Manager sent ‘obscene’ email to work experience girl

A HEDGE fund manager sent a work experience girl a passage of obscene Latin which threatened to “face-f***” and “bugger” his enemies, a tribunal heard.

Mark Lowe, who lives in Switzerland and has a reported wealth of£100 million, admitted that the phrase was “not very polite” but denied that it was “highly inappropriate” and “sexually explicit material”. He used words in response to an email from Ariane Gordji, who was doing work experience at his firm, Nomos Capital, in which she included a Latin passage from St Paul which talks about “love your enemies”.

Lowe, 59, replied with the phrase “irrumabo vos et pedicabo vos” from the poet, Catullus. But the translation offered to the tribunal by the claimant sourced from Wikipedia of “I will face-f*** you and bugger you” was disputed by Lowe.

He claimed instead that it meant that he would “screw and bugger” those who criticised him.

He said: “It is burlesque, it was always light-hearted in the first century and it still is now. It’s a morerobust and more paganresponse to love yourenemies, which is what St Paul says, but I say screw and bugger you.”

He argued that it was written as a retort to Catullus’s enemies and should be read in context.

Lowe has been accused by his former employee Jordan Wimmer, 29, of unlawfully deducting her wages, unfair constructive dismissal and disability and sex discrimination.

She has claimed that her boss would parade escort girls at business meetings, forced her to accompany him to a lap-dancing club and circulated rude and sexually explicit jokes among the staff.

She says that his treatment left her feeling so humiliated that she sank into depression and had to check into a rehab clinic.

Yesterday Lowe told the tribunal that Gordji had brought up the subject of their email exchange which took place in February 2006 “in the spirit of mischief making” and denied suggestions that she could have been offended.

Acting for Wimmer,Julian Wilson said: “This was sexually explicit material. It was highly inappropriate. You must have known it was likely to violate Miss Gordji’s dignity.”

Last week, Lowe denied a string of allegations including the fact he used prostitutes, made sexist jokes and hired a hitman to run Wimmer down.

Wimmer, who joined Lowe’s firm in 2004, previously told the tribunal that a car driven by a man who looked like Lowe swerved at her several times in west London in May this year.

The case continues.